Painting interior fiberglass

[Cyndivg11]

Once cleaned, do I sand it then paint?
What type of paint, gloss?
Need help.
Thanks,
Cyndi
78 Trillium

[Booker B.]

Hi Cyndi.

If the interior is original fiberglass (not painted) then I would personally leave it. The fiberglass cabinets on the Trillium's is quite robust and it is difficult (though not impossible) to do a good low maintenance paint job on them. A previous Trillium I owned had painted cabinets and they were starting to chip and peel in places. Once that happens you have to sand them down and paint them all over again.

[Raya]

When you say "interior fiberglass," do you mean the sections that are gelcoated (smooth and glossy and "finished") or areas that are the "raw" backside of things (you'll see the fibers and it will often be an orangey color). The treatments/prep for those two would not be exactly the same.

(Or are you by chance referring to the interior "finished" walls that are Ensolite foam with a vinyl covering?)

[Gordon Kinslow]

use varathane colours, it is the best paint for the interior

[shelley w]

I was also curious about this process. We have just purchased a 1973 Boler and it has shiny fiberglass benches and cabinets in a bland offwhite colour. There are many holes from missing rivets, screws (that the previous owners added and we've removed), scuff marks and some chipped areas. I wasn't sure if it could be painted, or even if it should, but we'd like to renovate/refurbish/restore. I can live with the offwhite colour if we have to, but how do I go about filling the holes and matching the existing colour?

Also, the insides of these cabinets are just rough uncoated fibreglass in an orangey-red colour. Rather unappealing and difficult to keep clean. Can this simply be painted for washability and to 'even out' the surface to aid in preventing dirty from catching in each ridge/groove?

It would appear that our ensolite interior has already been painted, but it is peeling off in some areas. How does one clean, prep, and repaint this stuff? What kind of paint should be used?